Jacquard mechanism for looms



H. V. FOSTER JACQUARD MECHANISM FOR LOOMS April 20, 1954 Filed July 6, 1951 FIG.3

INVENTOR HERBERT V. FOSTER ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 20, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JACQUABD MECHANISM FOR Looms chusetts Application July 6, 1951, Serial No. 235,410

4 Claims. (Cl. 13965) This invention relates to improvements in double lift jacquard machines for looms and it is the general object of the invention to improve such machines by eliminating useless motion of the various lines which control the warp threads, lessening the impact incident to the transfer of control of a warp thread lifter from one upright to another, reducing sway of the neck cords, and insuring return of a descending upright to low position when the corresponding neck cord is controlled by an ascending upright.

The usual double lift jacquard employs two sets of vertically moving griffs reciprocating in opposite directions for cooperation with pairs of uprights which determine the vertical position of the warp threads. It has been customary in the past to connect the two uprights of a pair by a wire link slidable on both uprights and having the lower end thereof connected to a warp thread lifting tail cord. When it is desired in these former constructions to maintain the tail cord up for two successive picks one of the uprights lifts the link to high position on the first pick and then lowers the link until it is picked up by the other upright as it rises to be returned to high position for the second pick. This mode of operation causes undesirable and harmful impact at the time control of the wire link is transferred from one upright to the other, and in addition, there is a considerable amount of useless motion on the part of the warp threads and all the cords and lines which control them.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide the pair of uprights with a flexible neck cord which can slide or move through a connector attached to the warp lifting tail cord. When such a connector is used the previously mentioned wire link is eliminated and a rising upright can cooperate with the descending upright to hold the connector and therefore all of the lines and warp threads controlled by it in a stationary raised position for the second pick, thereby eliminating the aforesaid impact and useless motion of the warp threads and the lines connected to them.

When the previously mentioned wire link is used and a warp thread is to remain up for two successive picks, the downward force exerted by the weight of the lingoes corresponding to the raised tail cord and warp threads will be transmitted through the tail cord and link to the descending upright to lower it until the link is picked up by the ascending upright, after which the descending upright isno longer acted on by the" downward force of the lingoes and maybe held frictionally in an intermediate position and not descend to its low position. Under this condition the upright which has not completed its down motion will again be raised by its grifi and a mispick may result.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a form of connection between the pair of uprights and the lingo weighted warp thread controlling tail cord which will enable the latter to exert a downward force on both uprights at all times sufficient to insure complete down motion of an upright.

In known forms of connections heretofore used between the pairs of uprights and the tail cord, such for instance as the previously mentioned wire link, the tail cord sways back and forth from one upright to the other upright of the pair when control of the warp is transferred from one to the other of the uprights. Thus, the wire link ordinarly used is bent to have two arms each made with an eye slidable on the corresponding upright, and the connection to the tail cord is intermediate the eyes. The normal idle position of the link is with the eyes level with each other and both arms oblique. When one upright is rising the link swings from its normal position so that one of its arms is vertical and in line with the rising upright and the tail cord is swung more or less into alignment with the rising upright, but when the other upright of the pair lifts the link the other arm of the latter moves to vertical position under the other upright and swings the tail cord from its previous position to another position in which it is more or less aligned with the second upright. This mode of operation results in a back and forth sway of the warp controlling tail cords which is objectionable in that it tends to reduce the speed at which the jacquard can operate. Even though the second upright should not rise, return of the link to its normal position will cause some sway of the tail cord.

It is another object of the present invention to make the previously mentioned connection between the neck cord and the warp lifting tail cord of such shape and form as will eliminate back and forth sway of the tail cord.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example three embodiments of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a double lift jacquard having the preferred form of the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of one of the connectors between the neck cord and the warp lifting tail cord shown in Fig. 1,

3 is a horizontal section on line 3--3, Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section on line 4-6, Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the first modified form of the invention,

Fig. 6 is a side elevation looking in the direction of arrow 6, Fig. 5,

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the second modified form of the invention, and

Fig. 8 is a vertical section on line 8-8, Fig. '7.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, right and left hand cylinders l and 2 control cards 3 and 4, respectively, and these cards in turn control the horizontal positions of needles 5 and 6, respectively. The needles control the positions of up rights which are generally made of wire and are arranged in pairs. Thus, in Fig. 1 two pairs PI and P2 of uprights are shown, the members of the pair Pi being designated at l and 8, and the members of pair P2 being indicated at 9 and H3.

The upper end of each upright is provided with a hook I i for cooperation with a vertically reciprocating griif. In Fig. l griffs ii are shown in low position and griifs I3 in high position. The griffs 52 will rise from their low position on one pick of the loom as the griffs i3 descend, and the latter griifs will ascend on the next pick of the loom as the previously raised griffs i2 descend. The griffs I2 are provided for the uprights 7 and 9, while the griffs I3 are provided for the uprights ii and it.

The lower end of each upright is bent back on itself as at 15 and extends upwardly to a hook it for engagement with a stationary horizontal support I? which limits down motion of an idle upright and holds the bent lower ends 15 spaced horizontally from each other by a given distance, as is apparent from Fig. l. The jacquard has a bottom board it, harness leashes l9, warp lifting lingo cords 29, glass rods 2i, a comber board 22, and lingoes 23 all of common construction. The warp shed of the loom is indicated at W and has top and bottom threads 24 and 25, respectively, corresponding to warp lifting tail cords 2E and 2?, respectively.

In the operation of the mechanism thus far described the needles will determine whether their corresponding uprights are to be in engaging position with respect to their grills, or are to be out of the paths of the griffs as the latter rise. When both uprights of a pair are out of the paths of their griifs both will be in down position, see pair Pi, and the corresponding tail cord 21' and warp thread 25 will be down, but when upright it of pair P2, for instance, is in the path of its griff it will be raised to lift tail cord 26 and warp thread 24 into high position.

Except as noted hereinafter the matter thus far described is the usual construction found in double lift jacquards and operates in the ordinary manner.

in carrying the present invention into efiect each pair of uprights is connected by a flexible neck cord, two of these neck cords being shown in Fig. 1 at 35 and 3|. Each neck cord has its ends tied to the lower bent ends l5 of the associated pair of uprights and the neck cords will be operatively connected to their tail cords by a connector. In the preferred form of the invention the connector, indicated generally at Cl, may

be formed as a tube 35 bent to be U-shaped and having a bore 36 through which the neck cord extends. The neck cord enters the upper ends of the bore and is free to slide through the bore 35 and the tail cord may be tied to the lower curved part of the connector Cl. The horizontal distance between the upright sides 38 and 39 of the U-shaped bore 36 is preferably the same as the aforesaid given horizontal distance between the lower bent ends iii of the members of a pair of uprights, so that the two parts of a neck cord extending upwardly from the connector to the pair of uprights will be substantially parallel, see for instance in Fig. 1.

In the operation of the preferred form of the invention, and having reference more particularly to the pair P2 of uprights, it may be assumed that griff i 2 for upright 9 is in its lowest position and that griif 3 for upright I8 is in its highest position, and that the warp thread 24, connector (3!, and tail cord 26 are up and are to remain up for the next pick. As the top griff l3 descends the bottom griff 52 will rise and lift upright 9, and the amoun of downward motion of griii it will equal the up motion of griii i2 and the position of the connector Ci for the pair P2 will remain substantially unchanged so that the tail cord will remain up and will not move down to a mid position and then again be lifted, as is the case in the ordinary double lift jacquard.

If the tail cord 25 is to be held up for a third ick, then the ascending griff l3 and the simultaneously descending griif 22 will hold the corresponding connector Cl in substantially unchanged position for the third pick. From this it will be understood that a tail cord and the warps which it controls and the lines between the tail cord and the warp threads will remain substantially unchanged for successive picks of the loom if the pattern requires that the warp threads remain up for successive picks.

It will be noted that during the descent of the griff i3 upright id, for instance, will be subject to the downward force exerted by the corresponding tail cord weighted by its associated lingoes throughout the entire down motion of the upright it so that assurance is given that it will move correctly to its low position. This same condition will of course be true of any descending upright.

When one member of a pair of uprights descends as the other member rises the neck cord will slip or slide freely through the bore 3% and the forces acting on the connector will tend to keep the latter in the position shown in Fig. 1 so that there will be littie or no lateral swaying of the tail cord as is common in jacquards of ordinary construction.

In the first modified form of the invention the connector C2 between the neck cord and the tail cord takes the form of a ring. Thus, referring to Figs. 5 and 6, the neck cord it passes through a ring 4! of rounded or circular cross section, and a tail cord A2 is tied to the ring at the bottom thereof. The neck cord to will slip freely through the ring it when either upright with which it i associated is moving, and the neck. cord can be maintained in raised substantially unchanged position for successive picks of the loom if this condition is required by the pattern.

In the second modified form of the invention the connector 03 is in the form of a sheave block and comprises a small sheet metal carrier 55 having sides 46 and 4! spaced horizontally and supporting a pin 48 on. which a small sheave or pulley 49 is mounted for rotation. The neck cord 50 is trained around the under side of the sheave and the diameter of the latter is such that the two sides of the neck cord leading upwardly from the sheave will be spaced horizontally a distance substantially equal to the horizontal distance between the associated uprights. The under side of the carrier 45 is formed for connection with the upper end of a tail cord 52.

While the preferred and second modified forms of the invention have been described as having connectors which space the sides of the neck cord in parallel relation a distance equal to the distance between the corresponding uprights, this relationship is not essential, but is found to reduce lateral sway of the tail cord.

Since the connectors GI, C2 and C3 act in the nature of movable pulleys it is necessary to move the grids through a vertical distance equal approximately to twice the vertical displacement of the connectors and the warp threads. These parts of the jacquard shown above bottom board 18 will therefore be at somewhat higher levels than is the case in the usual double lift jacquard, and the uprights will be longer than usual.

While the griffs I2 and i3 hav previously been I referred to as being similar to corresponding parts of known jacquards they are in fact of greater height than usual, as suggested in Fig. 1. Because the uprights are of greater length than usual their upper ends are likely to vibrate during operation of the jacquard with the possibility that a descending griff might pass down on the wrong side of the hook ll of an upright in low position. To prevent this the griifs will be of sufiicient height so that when they are in their highest position their lower edges will be below the upper hooked ends of any uprights resting on support l1. Thus, in Fig. l the left hand grid 13 is shown in its high position, but its lower edge is below the hook H of upright 8 so that there is never any possibility that the hook can get on the wrong side, the right hand side, of the griff l3 corresponding to it.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth a simple form of connector slidable on the neck cord of a pair of uprights. By the use of the connector a warp thread controlled by a pair of uprights can be held in raised position for successive picks of the loom if required by the pattern :without having the usual partial down motion followed by a return up motion. The useless motion of the warps and the lines or cords controlling them characteristic of jacquards as constructed heretofore is therefor eliminated. Also, the impact formerly incident to transfer of control of a tail cord from one upright to another is avoided. The neck cord slides or moves through its connector and the weighted tail cord is therefore able to exert a downward force on both uprights of the pair at all times and for all positions of the uprights so that assurance is given that a descending upright will return fully to its low position. Furthermore, the amount of back and forth sway of the tail cord is greatly reduced, and in the preferred and second modified forms of the invention is practically eliminated. Also, since two uprights always support the lingo or lingoes corresponding to a neck cord, each upright is required to support only one half of the lingo load.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1.. In a jacquard having two griiis reciprocating vertically in opposite directions, a pair of uprights, on for each grifi, each upright engageable with the corresponding griff to be raised and lowered thereby, a neck cord attached to and extendin :between the uprights, a. warp thread controlling tail cord, and a connection between the neck and tail cords comprising a U-shaped tube connected at the lower part thereof to the tail cord and through which the neck cord extends for sliding movement therethrough.

2. The structure set forth in claim. 1 wherein said uprights have lower ends spaced horizontally a given distance from each other and the U- shaped connection has upright sides spaced from each other by said given distance.

3. A warp thread lifting unit for a jacquard loom operating with a warp controlling tail cord, said unit comprising a pair of uprights, a neck cord the ends of which are secured to the uprights, and a connector for attachment to the tail cord comprising a tube bent to be U-shaped and having a bore therein through which the neck cord extends.

4. In a jacquard having two griffs reciprocating vertically in opposite directions, a pair of uprights, one for each griff, each upright movable to a position to be engageable with the corresponding grin? to be lifted thereby and the lower References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 7,990 Scott et al Mar. 18, 1851 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 9,342 Great Britain Jun 17, 1890 10,924 Great Britain May 21, 1896 

